In the middle of Wednesday's afternoon commute, an unassuming guy with a goatee and a beret popped up at downtown San Francisco's Embarcadero Station: Newmark, the purportedly saintly millionaire founder of community listings site Craigslist.

Despite starring on the cover of this month's Wired, Newmark went unrecognized by the Muni-riding masses. He pulled out a Muni Fast Pass, entered the fare gates, and headed to a table where transit employees were signing up riders for TransLink, a new smart card for Bay Area transit systems.

Newmark explained to a staffer that he "basically rides the N-Judah." Newmark lives in Cole Valley and takes the Muni light-rail line to Craigslist's small office in the Inner Sunset neighborhood of San Francisco, far from the hip startup neighborhoods of South Park and the Financial District.

"I never take BART or the cable car," he added. While BART and Muni's buses and trains accept TransLink for payment, the city's cable cars aren't yet equipped.